The Hague Arbitration Court rules in favor of Ukrainian PrivatBank in the 'Crimean assets' case against Russia
According to PrivatBank’s press service, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague officially announced a partial arbitration decision in favor of the bank in a lawsuit against the Russian Federation.
In a partial arbitration decision of February 4, 2019 that was published on Friday, February 15, the Arbitration Court recognized that it has jurisdiction over all claims of PrivatBank against the Russian Federation, that the Russian Federation "violated its obligations under the bilateral agreement on the promotion and mutual protection of investments and illegally seized the assets of PrivatBank in the Crimea," and that PrivatBank is thereby entitled to compensation for the lost assets in full.
The Court declined to rule on the amount of compensation payable to PrivatBank for the actions of the Russian Federation, preferring to determine that at the next stage of the proceedings. PrivatBank intends to receive a reimbursement of more than $1 billion.
PrivatBank stopped serving customers in the Crimea in March 2014. Later that year, the Russian-controlled, Crimean parliament “nationalized” PrivatBank’s property and other companies owned by Ukrainian businessman Ihor Kolomoyskyi. The list includes over a hundred different assets.
In the summer of 2015, the bank filed a lawsuit against the Russian Federation for the protection of lost investment in the Crimea. In December 2016, PrivatBank almost went bankrupt but was nationalized by Ukraine.